Soon after taking office in January
1981, President Ronald Reagan and several of his key advisors were
working through a mound of policy matters that had spilled over from
the Carter Administration. One of those issues concerned the signing
of the United Nation’s new Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST).

As the advisors talked among themselves
debating whether the administration should sign the treaty as it stood
or demand changes, the President sat by silently and listened. With
the debate raging, suddenly the President's voice was heard to say,
"Isn't that what it was all about?"

Debate stopped as everyone looked
over to the President. "What, sir?" Reagan then repeated
his statement. "Isn't that what it was all about -- the election?
Doesn't it mean that we don’t have tto sign these things?"

The group realized that President
Reagan had just cut through all of the debate and stated the real
issue. His administration had been elected to defend American sovereignty
and independence, and that changes in a bad treaty didn't have to
be negotiated. He could just refuse to sign and kill it right then
and there. Ronald Reagan understood that he was the President of the
United States and not a captive of someone else’s power grab.

And the Law of the Sea Treaty remained
justifiably dead for the next 12 years until Bill Clinton pulled it
out of the trash bin, dusted it off and signed it. Then, in the spirit
of Reagan, a courageous Senator Jesse Helms, chairman of the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, bottled it up until the Clintonistas
were driven from power.

But today there is no Ronald Reagan
and no Jesse Helms, and so the Law of the Sea Treaty has again reared
its ugly head and now stands on the verge of passage in the Senate
under the forceful hand of Republican Senator Richard Lugar, the current
Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee. Worse, Lugar is aided
in his quest by a hapless Bush Administration.

After unanimously passing the Treaty
out of committee, the pressure is on to give it "unanimous consent,"
meaning there will be no official vote to ratify the treaty; no record
of support or opposition; no one to blame when it’s over. The treaty
will just become the law of the land -- no muss, no fuss. Business
as usual. Senators like to hide from thhe people that way. It makes
life so much easier for them.

For the record, here are just a
few of the reasons why Ronald Reagan, Jesse Helms and those loyal
to the American ideal believe the United States should never be a
party to the Law of the Sea Treaty.

Freedom of the seas has been the
guiding principle recognized by sovereign nations since ancient times.
It means all nations recognize that ships, government owned or private,
are free to sail the seas wherever they like, carrying their cargoes
to ports of call for free trade among nations. Freedom of the seas
also means the right to mine and fish the resources of the seas, unhindered.

Nations have traditionally claimed
a slim line along their coasts as sovereign territory for protection
of national interests and defense. Three miles out from shore has
been the traditional limit recognized by nations. That distance used
to represent the range of a cannon on shore. Any waters outside such
limited claims have been understood to be free of control. The rights
of individuals and private companies to use the seas for pleasure
and commerce has been unquestioned.

That's all about to change. In
the name of "social equity," a euphemism for "redistribution
of the wealth," the UN's Law of the Sea Treaty will replace the
freedom of the seas concept with central control from an international
body, specifically the United Nations. Under UN control a new supranational
agency has been created called the Seabed Authority.

The Seabed Authority is organized
identically to the UN General Assembly using the one nation, one vote
model. That means that numerous, tiny Third World nations can organize
a block of votes hostile to the United States and other industrial
nations. Such a setup has created an unworkable situation in the General
Assembly and it's why that body achieves very little of worthwhile
substance. Now, the same gridlock expects to rule the seas of the
world.

The Seabed Authority will have
the power to regulate all the seas -- roughlly seven-tenths of the
world’s surface area. It will have the sole power to issue permits
for fishing and mining and drilling operations under the surface.
It can fix prices of sea products and impose quotas on how much is
produced. It can levy international taxes and impose production quotas
on deep-sea mining and oil production; control ocean research and
exploration; and create a multinational court to enforce its dictates.
Don't be surprised to see Seabed Authority ships plying the waters,
stalking ships, and mining and drilling operations it deems in violation
of its authority.

The Seabed Authority can force
governments and private companies to file for permits and impose fees
and it can delay production for years. Yet, in the end, after charging
up to a million dollars for permit fees, there is nothing in the Treaty
that requires the Authority to EVER issue even a single permit. In
addition, the provisions establishing the Authority gives it the power
to set up its own mining and drilling activities, and compete right
next to private efforts. That provision alone should set off alarm
bells concerning the fairness of permit decisions.

The revenues raised by the Seabed
Authority make it a powerful force that will likely be controlled
by the Third World block. This new wealth and power may lead to the
establishment of a cartel of sorts where the Third World nations could
control all assets of the seas for their own interests, leaving developed
nations at their mercy.

Under the Law of the Sea Treaty,
U.S. national defense interests would be dangerously threatened as
several provisions of the treaty would prevent inspection or boarding
of suspected terrorist ships. When the U.S. invaded Afghanistan after
the 9-11 terrorist attacks, several ships controlled by al Qaeda were
seen fleeing the area and were chased down and boarded by U.S. war
ships. Equipment, weapons and the terrorists who owned them were apprehended.

Yet the treaty offers still more
of a threat to our national interests. It demands that nations share
information with all others concerning sea exploration. This provision
constitutes a mandatory technology transfer and can include military
secrets such as submarine detection techniques.

The most dangerous aspect of the
treaty has nothing to do with the seas, however. Rather, the danger
lies with the United Nations gaining the authority to impose taxes
through the Seabed Authority. The UN is basically a club. It has private
members who pay voluntary dues. Only governments have the power to
tax, operate a court system or field armies. If the UN gains the power
to tax through the Law of the Sea Treaty, the cat is out of the bag.
There can then be no stopping any of hundreds of taxing schemes now
floating around the UN. The UN has already established its own criminal
court. Given the ability to tax, it will be two thirds on the way
to becoming the global government of its dreams.

The Law of the Sea Treaty is clearly
a massive threat to the sovereignty and independence of the United
States and our private companies operating internationally. Is it
any wonder why Senator Lugar is putting pressure on Senate Majority
Leader Frist to push the treaty through without debate and without
a recorded vote. He wants none of these facts to get a public airing.

The treaty has been reborn because
a massive lobbying effort has been waged by those who seek UN global
governance. Environmental groups stand to gain incredible power to
block oil drilling and mining. International corporations think it
will be easier to deal with one central power than with multiple foreign
countries. Several oil and mineral companies think they can use the
treaty to gain their own form of power and cut their competition.
They play to get theirs at the expense of everyone else. It's an old
game played on Capitol Hill. All of them will find in the end that
they’ve played a costly hand indeed.

The fight over the Law of the Sea
Treaty is really an ancient one between those who believe in the concepts
of private property and free markets and those who can’t conceive
of anything not being controlled by government.

The seas have been free for the
entire history of mankind, except when controlled by a dictator. We’ve
fought pirates and Hitler to keep them open. Why would we now surrender
that freedom to mindless, faceless bureaucrats who covet power and
care nothing for our rights?

The actions of Senator Lugar and
his cohorts defy comprehension by reasonable Americans. Yet so far,
Americans have remained silent while the Law of the Sea Treaty is
being slipped through to stealth ratification. Our senators are sending
the message that they don't need you in the process. They don't feel
the need to hear from you. Instead, they want to cater to the wants
of a powerful lobby.

Will we let them get away with
it? Will we see this massive piece of our liberty drown in the seas
while we do nothing -- again? A massive outcry of NOO now will stop
it. It just requires one phone call to your United States Senator.
Here’s the number: 202-224-3121. Call it and stop the Law of the Sea
Treaty and keep the seas of the world open and free ? as theyy’ve
always been.

Tom DeWeese is the publisher/editor of The DeWeese
Report and president of the American Policy Center, an activist, grassroots
think tank headquartered in Warrenton, VA. The Center maintains an Internet
site at www.americanpolicy.org.
E-Mail: apc@americanpolicy.org

"But today there is no Ronald
Reagan and no Jesse Helms, and so the Law of the Sea Treaty has again
reared its ugly head and now stands on the verge of passage in the Senate
under the forceful hand of Republican Senator Richard Lugar..."